


Snapshots

by Estel



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Episode Arc: Children of Earth (Season 3), F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-05 09:05:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estel/pseuds/Estel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses of Jack's broken family history. A scrapbook of memories of Alice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Melissa just sounded right.

**Author's Note:**

> This is told through very fragmented thoughts. Snapshots of memory if you will.

When she first opened her beautiful bright eyes, she was cradled gingerly in her mother's eager arms. Then the name finally came to us. Of all the tens of thousands of names, somewhere between a guttural American 'Brittany' and the smooth tones of 'Gabriella' she smiled and 'Melissa' just sounded right. I didn't pick it, but I definitely liked it. She gripped my finger tight and cooed.

The crying won't stop as she slams down the last stack of her papers. I can go to hell, she said. Work was more like torture anyway, she didn't want it. Little Melissa screeched at the noises. Quiet now, everything's going to be alright. Daddy's not going far.

In a panic I burst through the door and feel the fool. A happy family home. Nothing's wrong, no one's hurt. Melissa's just under a stone and already a full head of beautiful brown hair. She clutches at her mother's scarf as she storms out. I'm unbelievable.

Maybe things aren't safe anymore. Moretti becomes Sangster. Harkness is out of the question and out of the picture. No more Melissa.

Alice's first birthday as 'Alice' is full of screaming children and crooning mothers. The hurtful father keeps to the wings where he can't muck things up worse than they are already. A new, normal life is ready for them. Smile and pretend it doesn't hurt to see a gray hair in Lucia's bangs. She's still beautiful.

Kids grow fast and suddenly she's tugging at my coat, asking for a pony and a piggyback. I don't come as often as I'd like. I come too often for her liking. Alice's perfect little bow keeps her thick curls back as she clings to my neck tight. Don't let go, baby.


	2. Lucia, now 'Mary'

One firm tug on that last shoestring to get her new shoes secured. School today. Alice's bag overwhelms her. She didn't need one so big. One day she'll fill it to bursting. She's excited to play with the other kids.

Gunshots and car accidents with a bit of alien testing on the side fill her primary school years. Lucia, now 'Mary', asks me not to come around as often. I post my check instead.

Tenth birthday and something's wrong. I had been in Lebanon and was a day late to post her check. The front door was open and they were gone.

The phone rang. Alex hated personal calls during work time; especially when there was a hostage situation going on. They were safe and home. It was just a scare. Melissa Alice was fine. Italy was lovely.

We hide in the shed. I tell her it's a game.

A little girl and her baby brother's corpses silence the warm Hub. I call, but they're having tea. Apparently now's not the time.

Lucia's going gray. She frets over it and says she's going to dye it. She stands in the mirror and lets me hold her close. The phone rings.


	3. Happy birthday, Daddy

Career day. She asks what I do. Lucia smiles at her and tells her that father works for the civil service. She won't let me lie to her. Not again.

A package in the post. A toy plane. Just for me. Happy birthday, Daddy.

I don't have a birthday.

I stare down the barrel of my revolver. A girl cries out for her father and runs to him. Alien parasite took his brain. She watched.

1991\. I miss 16. Lockdown. I call. She's out.

The age means so much. She's growing up. I look the same as the day she was born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't added more to this fic in some time, but I do intend to come back and finish it. Feedback may help get me going in a direction again.


End file.
